Formally joining the Mountain View-based genetic test company's board last year and becoming president this summer, Page is leading a new consumer focus. It is a role that fits Page's background, ranging from online luxury shopping to social gaming and ticket reseller StubHub.

The 125-employee 23andMe, which reportedly has raised $126 million since its 2006 inception, launched a major advertising campaign in August aimed at getting more consumers to spit into a spittoon and send the sample to a lab. In return, customers receive a report that red-flags potential medical conditions and diseases.

The information is powerful. The company, for example, saw an uptick in samples earlier this year after actress Angelina Jolie went public with her decision to have a double mastectomy after testing positive for a gene that put her at a higher risk of developing breast cancer.

It hasn't hurt, too, that 23andMe late last year lowered the price of its test to $99, thanks in large part to bringing on Russian billionaire Yuri Milner as an investor. The test will buy you 250 reports. When the company's personal genome service business started in November 2007, the test cost $999 and provided 14 reports.

I talked to Page about 23andMe's data, working with founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki, the company's ad campaign and the potential for an IPO.

You have a varied résumé but there is a consistent online thread running through it. What struck you about 23andMe?

The original positioning of the company was intriguing and is consistent today: the idea that 23andMe wanted to be the advisors, the trusted source of information as genetic information became more available to the consumer. That was intriguing to me and is increasingly today.

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